Through the Looking Glass
by Medie Shanachie
Summary: Crossover with gamilaroi's world. Takes place Season 4 for her and during the break between Seasons 3 and 4 for me. Essentially the teams touch something they shouldn't and my team gets transported to her universe.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: So this is my second crossover with fellow writer, __Gommeroi. This time we didn't cross two fandoms though; we crossed our two Atlantis teams. So we are completely playing in the Stargate: Atlantis world here, but in two different realities that we have created. I think you'll be able to follow it because after a chapter or so, we're gonna pretty much play in her world (or at least I'm hoping I'm going to be able to play in her world… pretty, pretty please, Gommeroi? I'll try to only whump on _my_ Evan.) And we'll try to keep everyone straight for you._

_Warnings: In this chapter...just slight language... I mean Aiden, military... come on... gimme a break._

_So once we've introduced everyone to you… we'll give you a run-down of who everyone is and who belongs to who and how everyone is related… for now… here's the introduction of my team…_

_Standard disclaimer on anything recognizable as Stargate: Atlantis….and the timeline here is right after the Season 3 finale "First Strike" so major spoilers for that episode and possible minor spoilers of anything up til then and also anything in my timeline up til then._

* * *

Aiden Bancroft looked up from her laptop as Evan Lorne entered their shipboard quarters. He had a tac vest on, but it was unzipped at the moment. "What're you doing?" he asked as he glanced around the cramped room.

She flipped her computer around so he could see _Minesweeper_. "Playing video games."

He grinned. He had been expecting her to be working on some type of translation, but he knew she was going stir-crazy stuck on the ship. The games were probably her way of keeping her temper. "Interested in getting off this ship for a bit?" he questioned.

Aiden sat up abruptly, setting the laptop carefully aside. "They found Atlantis?" she asked excitedly.

"Um, no," he replied. "But we reached one of the planets that Atlantis might have taken refuge on so Ellis wants a team to go down. I volunteered our services."

Aiden turned her laptop off and reached for her boots. "I can be ready in two minutes. Did you tell our boys? And what about weapons? What's the terrain like?" She got up and began moving around, continuing to shoot questions at him.

Evan laughed at her enthusiasm. "You can take a bit more time than that. A flight of 302s has to do a fly-by first and Murray needs to set his kit back up. Apparently Wall took me a little _too_ seriously when I told him to empty Murray's back pack." He hooked his fingers into her belt loops as she passed him by and drew her to him. Tipping her head up, he kissed her tenderly. "Settle down a little, okay?"

Aiden nodded and visibly calmed down. "Yeah. Okay. I'm fine." She grabbed her pack and began to stuff her normal gear into it.

He waited a few minutes to make sure she was focused on what she was doing, then said, "I'm going down to the barracks to hurry the boys along and make sure Deke isn't annoying anyone. Can you manage to get down there within twenty minutes?"

She paused in the middle of what she was doing. "Yeah. No problem. Meet you at the barracks or the transporter?"

"Transporter," he decided. Taking her wrist, he set the alarm on her watch. "Twenty minutes, Aid," he reminded her as he left.

* * *

Evan looked up from the discussion he was having with Deke as there was a disruption at the doorway. With a touch to Deke's shoulder, he pushed his way through the group and made it to the doorway where two of the _Apollo_'s Marines had stopped Aiden. "What seems to be the problem, Sergeants?" he asked as he got to the doorway. Aiden had a mutinous look on her face, but for a change was actually holding her tongue and waiting for him to handle it.

"This girl demanded entrance to the room, Major," one of them answered.

Evan held his hand out to Aiden, who took it and allowed him to draw her across the border into the room. "She demanded or requested, Sergeant?" he asked. "And she has every right. She's a member of my team." He looked down at Aiden, who was vibrating again with barely contained excitement or temper. "You okay?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine." She glared at the two Marines who had challenged her. "Apparently I'm too used to _our_ military."

"_Aiden_," Evan warned. She turned her glare on him for a moment, but subsided after a second. "Finish getting kitted out so we can go," he instructed gently when she had stopped arguing. When she turned to follow his orders, he took her arm. "I know this isn't the way we normally do things, but it'll be okay," he said softly.

Aiden shook her head. "Something's going to happen," she said. "I don't like this."

Evan glanced around at everyone in the room. Although his team wouldn't think anything of it if he kissed Aiden to reassure her, there were enough _Apollo_ crewmen here that he didn't feel comfortable doing it. "It'll be okay," he attempted to reassure her. "Mac's got your sidearm and k-bar so get them and we'll get going, okay? I think you'll feel better once we're off the ship."

Deke grinned, his white teeth flashing in his dark skin, when Evan rejoined him. "We won't say anything if ya kiss her, boss," he said.

"You might not, but the _Apollo_ boys..." Evan indicated the others, than turned his attention back to the map they had been looking at. "So how close can we get to these caves?" he asked, pointing.

Aiden stuck her head into the discussion. "I thought we were looking for Atlantis?"

"The fly-by showed no sign of Atlantis, but since we're here and stopped, we figured we'd check out the caves here." Evan pointed. "Ancient writing, something that looks not unlike those temple things in an Indiana Jones movie," he said, trying to tempt Aiden. "Sound interesting, amour?"

She grinned as she finished strapping her nine millimeter to her leg. "All right, you win. We ready to transport down?"

Deke grinned. "Beam me down, Scotty!"

Evan groaned. "Wrong movie, Deke."

"And the correct quote is 'Beam me _up_, Scotty' anyway," Aiden said, looking up from where she was double checking her gun.

"But more appropriate to what we're doing," Deke responded.

"Remember that conversation we had about respect and the way you should answer me in public?" Evan asked as they joined the others in the center of the room.

"Which one?" Deke responded.

"That would be my point," Evan told him, then motioned to the transporter chief that they were ready. Aiden was in the center of the group and for a change she wasn't bitching that she couldn't see anything for which Evan was grateful. He had finally convinced the Marines that he didn't _have_ to be surrounded every time they went somewhere although Murray and Wall still glued themselves to Aiden (he wasn't sure how much of it was genuine like of Aiden and how much of it was she would get sucked into looking at something and forget to be aware of her surroundings) and McFadden tended to stay pretty close to either him or Deke. They still had issues about losing him.

When they rematerialized, they were right outside the entrance to the cave and Aiden immediately headed towards the opening, causing both McFadden and Wall to grab her. "Hang on, Aid," Evan cautioned. "Let those of us with the bigger guns go first."

She put her hands up, but stopped. "Lucky for you, you didn't say let the men go first," she said.

"Doll, I learned a _long_ time ago to never tell you to let the _men_ go first. That would guarantee you'd charge right in," Evan said as he motioned for Wall and Murray to lead the way. The two boys entered cautiously and a moment later called back that the beginning was clear. Evan gestured for her to proceed. "After you."

Aiden grinned and kissed him quickly on the cheek. "You're the best!" She almost skipped in her eagerness to enter the cavern.

"She been a bit of a handful?" Deke asked.

"Well, she hasn't blown anything up," Evan commented as they followed the others in. McFadden fell in behind them, covering their rear. "And she hasn't thrown anything lately, but I know she's been bored. The stack of work she was able to bring has been cut by at least three-quarters and when I found her today, she was playing _Minesweeper_. Aiden playing video games is _never_ a good thing."

Deke grinned. "I can tweak her laptop and give her more of a challenge if she wants."

Evan shook his head. "No. She's frustrated enough with the regular one." He grinned. "But I gotta admit my vocabulary is increasing."

"And you were worried about us corrupting her," Deke said.

"Yeah. I have no idea _what_ I was thinking," Evan answered.

"Hey, sir," Wall called from up ahead. "The tunnel splits here."

The three men that had trailed behind hurried forward, Deke pulling a life signs detector from his vest as they moved. Aiden was trying to see something written on the cave walls. As they reached the other three, she was stepping into Murray's hands so he could boost her up higher. "Is that a good idea, Aiden?" Evan asked.

"I think he can handle me, Ev." She braced herself on the young Marine's shoulders and then leaned against the wall. One advantage to not having the ATA gene was she didn't have to worry about setting things off while she was studying them. Evan concentrated on not touching anything and thinking about nothing more worrisome than what they might have for dinner when they got back to the _Apollo_. Aiden wasn't telling him to blank his mind so he kept alert to the surrounding area. A moment later, she was hopping down and pointing to the left. "We go thataway."

Deke looked at the LSD and shrugged. "I've got a reading, but no way to tell which way it's coming from. And before you ask I have no idea what it is either."

"Anything from the other tunnel?" Evan asked.

Deke moved the detector as McFadden and Wall covered the tunnel, eliciting an eye roll from the computer tech. "Nope. No energy readings," he answered after a minute.

"Okay. Then we listen to the doc and go 'thataway'." Evan pointed down the tunnel and turned his motion into a grab when Aiden immediately started down it. "Aiden, have we been down there before?"

"Well, no?" she replied.

"So who goes first?" he asked.

She crossed her arms and glared at him. "The men with bigger guns," she parroted his earlier comment.

"So why don't you walk next to Deke and me and we'll see if we can figure out these energy readings before we get there?" he suggested. "Besides Deke is taller than Murray and he can lift you up higher if we find some more writing."

Deke rolled his eyes at the major over Aiden's head, but held the LSD out towards her. "Yeah, Doc. Maybe this makes more sense to you than me. I mean my Ancient still sucks."

"Yeah, and so does your brown nosing, Deke," she said as she fell in step with him.

"That must be cuz my nose is black," he pointed out.

Evan let the two of them bicker; figuring that Aiden bickering with Deke was safer than Aiden taking off on her own to explore and motioned for the Marines to lead the way. As he walked down the tunnel, he got that creepy sensation on the back of his neck that normally meant someone was stalking them, but when he turned slowly around there was no one there. Shaking it off as nerves of being cooped up too long on the _Apollo_, he hurried to catch up to the group as they reached an archway.

Aiden had stopped to look at something and was tilting her head up to read what was written above the arch when Evan noticed something odd on the wall to his right. He reached over, touching it with his right hand as he started to call Aiden's attention to it. A sharp jolt of electricity shot through him and he was thrown to the ground. _Oh, shit_, _you'd think I'd have learned to ask Aiden before I touched things by now, _he had time to think before he blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: So this is the next chapter and now you get introduced to the other team… I think you'll see a lot of differences here. (Not saying they're (differences are) bad, __Gommeroi, just that we're two very different people!)_

_Anyway so this is your intro to the other team and then in the next chapter, they're going to meet each other…and the sparks are going to fly!_

_Warnings in THIS chapter… slight sexual situation. NOT _my_ fault this time!_

_So once again… Standard disclaimer on anything recognizable as Stargate: Atlantis and I do believe that my cohort told me that her timeline was stuck around "Doppleganger" so anything before then is fair game to the two of us from now on…you have been warned… if we stick something specific in we'll try to remember to spoil you specifically._

* * *

Doctor Astra Owen-Lorne was in her lab working on a small tablet that one of the lower SGA teams had found. It reminded her of the Mayan language and was proving a real challenge for her. Her children, Zahina, Maebh, and the twins, Aoife and Ruari, were at the day-care centre. It was run by professional child care workers who had signed up to come to Atlantis when Doctor Elizabeth Weir arranged it after Expedition members started having children. Some of the Athosian woman assisted the staff in looking after the children.

It was mid-morning and Astra had been working on the Mayan-like text since seven that morning. Astra rubbed her temple as her stomach growled. She walked over to the bookshelf that her teammate, Lieutenant Van Ingen had made for her a few years ago.

"As, let me get that for you," Major Evan Lorne, her husband, said as he entered her lab. Lorne rushed over and grabbed the folder from her hands. He took it over to her desk and placed it carefully near the Mayan tablet.

"Thanks, Ev. What are you doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see you," she asked.

Astra let out an ompf when Lorne shoved her against the wall near her desk and devoured her lips hungrily with his. She kissed him back with equal passion, snaking her arms around his neck. He wrapped her legs around his waist.

"I was wondering if my lovely, beautiful wife wanted to have lunch with me?" Lorne murmured into her ear.

"You just can't help saying "my wife", can you? It's been a couple of months now, Ev," Astra said lightly, but it still made her feel good and tingly inside when Lorne said "my wife" in his sexy voice. It sounded even sexier when he spoke it in French.

"Je t'aime, mon coeur," he said in French. "So, of course, I love saying "my wife". I've often heard you say "my husband"." She groaned when he sucked her collarbone. Her eyes half-closed, as her arms now wrapped around his waist.

"The answer is yes to food. Are you distracting me from my work, Ev?" She inquired in French.

"I would never do such a thing," Lorne answered her in kind. One of his hands dipped down and began to unzip her BDUs.

"Uh hum," came a loud voice from the doorway.

Lorne quickly did her pants back up. "You forgot to lock the door," Astra whispered in his ear.

Lorne muttered something unintelligible into her hair. He gently placed her feet on the ground and they both turned sheepishly around to see Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard standing in the doorway. Sheppard raised an eyebrow at them.

"Sir?" Lorne asked.

Sheppard smirked, but chose not to comment on their position when he found them. "Lorne, SGA-6 just returned from their mission claiming they've found something Ancient. They aren't sure what it is, so they thought Astra might want to take a look at it."

"When?" Astra asked, exchanging glances with her husband.

"As soon as you gear up. Before you say anything, Heidi and I'll take the kids," Sheppard said.

"It's not a day trip, is it?" Astra questioned.

"No, I'm afraid it'll be a couple of nights," Sheppard replied.

"Give us an hour to get the team together. What planet are we going to?" Lorne quizzed.

"P42-383."

"I wanna say goodbye to the kids," Astra said, glancing at the two men.

"We'll do that while I tell the team to gear up," Lorne assured her. Sheppard nodded, not really expecting anything different. Kids had changed Atlantis, but he couldn't really say it was a bad thing.

"Lorne to Wood," Lorne said activating his radio. Sheppard gave a wave as he wandered off down the hall to his own duties, whistling as he walked.

"Yes, sir?" Jason replied. He was with his girlfriend, Julie in the mess hall. She was off duty from the infirmary. The red-haired nurse was the mother of his twin boys, Stephen and Adam.

"We're going off-world in an hour. Gear up and be in the Jumper Bay by then," Lorne told him.

"Going off world again?" Julie asked him when it was clear he was finished speaking.

"Yup. For a few days. So you'll be okay with the boys?"

"I'll be fine, Jason," Julie assured him.

Lorne then radioed Wyatt who was his girlfriend, Doctor Edwards, in the Botany labs. She was one of the few botanists in Atlantis. Lisa had long black hair and brown eyes with fair complexion.

"Van Ingen?" Wyatt said, when he heard Lorne's voice through his radio.

"Be ready in one hour, Lieutenant, we're going off world for a few days. I'll meet you in the Jumper Bay."

"Yes, sir. I'll see you in an hour," Wyatt replied.

Wyatt gave Lisa a kiss. "I've got to go off world for a few days."

"I wish I could go with you," Lisa said wistfully.

"Atlantis gets pretty exciting," Wyatt told her. "I'll see you when I get back." Wyatt gave her another kiss and headed out of the room. Lisa watched him leave and then went back to her work.

"Are you gonna contact Mahendra?" Lorne asked.

Astra sighed, but agreed, "I'll contact Mahendra."

Astra keyed her own radio open. "Mahendra, its Astra, we're going off world for a few days. Will you please meet us in the Jumper Bay in an hour?"

Mahendra was sitting in the mess hall flirting with one of the Atlantean female scientists when Astra reached him. He knew she was an astrophysics who worked for Doctor McKay, which always made it more interesting. "Yes, Exalted One, I will meet you in the Jumper Bay," Mahendra replied. "I have to go off world for a few days. Maybe we can have lunch again when I come back?" Mahendra asked the woman.

"Yes, of course, Mahendra. I'm looking forward to it." She winked at him.

Astra rolled her eyes as she closed the connection. "His highness says he'll be there," she told Lorne.

"Good. Let's go tell the kids," Lorne said, lacing his fingers with hers.

"You should have learned by now to lock the door," she scolded him as they left the lab.

"I forgot! Next time I promise to lock the door."

They headed to the day-care centre where the children were. The two security guards saluted them. Lorne saluted back and they entered the room. Inside there were children playing games and doing craft. Some of the smaller children were sleeping on cots in a sectioned off corner.

"Dadda! Momma!" a small child with long dark hair cried out when she saw her parents. She ran over to them.

"Hello, Zahina," Lorne greeted their daughter. He knelt down and opened up his arms. Zahina threw herself into his embrace and he picked her up, throwing her up into the air several times.

"Hello, Maebh," Astra welcomed her other daughter who had approached more slowly. The archaeologist knelt down so she was face to face with the miniature version of herself. Maebh shared her blond hair and pale green eyes.

"Is it time to go home?" Maebh asked, puzzled, after Astra had picked her up and cuddled her, than settled the small child on her hip.

"No, Momma and Dadda came to tell you that we're going off world for a few days," Astra explained.

"Are you going in the Jumper with Uncles Mahendra, Wyatt, and Jason to another planet?" Maebh inquired, reaching for the sword in the sheath attached to Astra's back.

"No, Maebh, only Momma can have Excalibur," Astra scolded the child gently. Maebh pouted, but was took her hands away.

"Why you go off, Dadda?" Zahina queried, as they entered the babies room.

"We're going to look for something," Lorne explained.

"What is it _this_ time, Dadda? You're _always_ looking for _something_," Maebh asked, sticking a finger in her mouth.

"We aren't sure, Maebh," Lorne replied.

"How can you look for something if you don't know what it is?" Zahina questioned, confused.

Lorne chuckled. "We won't know for sure until we get there."

"In the mean time you'll be staying with Aunty Heidi and Uncle John," Astra informed them to head off anymore conversation since she knew they could go around in circles for hours and any mention of their aunt and uncle were sure to derail them.

"Yeah!" both girls squealed in delight.

"Ssh! You'll wake the babies up," Lorne warned them. The Lornes found the cribs where the twins, Aoife and Ruari, slept. They were six months old and forty-five minutes apart. Ruari looked like his father with dark hair and blue eyes. Aoife had her mother's blond hair and her father's blue eyes.

"Major and Doctor Lorne," Calista greeted the two adults. She was the room leader for the babies' room.

"Hello, Calista," Maebh and Zahina greeted the teacher.

"Momma and Dadda are," Zahina started.

"Going off world. We're going to," Maebh said.

"Stay with Uncle John and Aunty Heidi," Zahina finished. Sometimes Astra wondered if Maebh and Zahina weren't the twins when they finished each other's sentences like that.

"Oh, how wonderful for you both, Maebh and Zahina. I'm sure you'll have fun with Lieutenant Colonel and Doctor Sheppard," Calista assured them. The two girls beamed.

"We came to say goodbye and let you and Marina know so you weren't surprised when Heidi and John picked the children up tonight," Astra told Calista. Marina was the room leader for the older children.

"I'll make a note in the diary. Thanks for letting us know. I'm sure the children will have tons of crafts ready for you when you get back," Calista said smiling.

"They always do," Lorne said, fondly. "All right, girls, Momma and Dadda have to go now." Lorne said goodbye to Zahina. He then swapped Zahina for Maebh. After saying goodbye to the girls and then kissing the sleeping twins Astra and Lorne went to inform Marina about the change in plans.

Lorne and Astra swung by the locker room and grabbed their packs and their weapons. Then they hurried to the Jumper Bay where their team was already waiting for them. "I thought we were going to have to send out a search party for you, sir," Jason said when he spotted Astra and Lorne.

"We were the day-care centre," Astra explained.

"I swung by to say goodbye to the boys," Jason said, grinning. "Stephen and Adam were playing twister. I must have just missed you."

"I hate that game," Astra muttered.

"Only because you lose," Lorne teased, his eyes twinkling.

"Maybe because I want to," she retorted in French.

"Let's move out," Lorne ordered, deciding the better part of valour was knowing when to lose an argument with his wife.

Everyone scrambled into their customary seats; Astra next to Lorne, Mahendra behind her, and Jason behind Lorne, with Wyatt behind 

Jason. Within minutes they were flying through the 'Gate and onto P42-383.

"Sheppard gave me some info on what SGA-6 found. It's in a cave system that is giving off readings that it's Ancient," Jason reported as they cleared the horizon and Lorne levelled the Jumper out.

"Did they look for it?" Wyatt inquired.

"Not really. They thought it was best to report back to Atlantis and let Astra deal with it. Our Exalted One here is after all the expert on all things Ancient," Jason answered, a twinkle in his eyes and smirk on his lips.

Astra turned around to face Jason, her eyebrow arched. "You called?" she drawled.

"Funny," Jason said.

"You did say Exalted One," she pointed out

"Don't make me separate you two," Lorne warned, slightly amused. He was used to their friendly banter by now. At least he would get plenty of practice for when the children were older.

"You tried that once before remember?" Mahendra reminded him. "It did not work. It was very rough on all of us."

"True," Lorne agreed.

A terrain map came up on the screen and Lorne found where the caves were. No use asking Astra to read the map, she failed miserably at it. Lorne remembered how she got them lost for several hours once because she was reading the paper map they had been given by some natives wrong because she had it upside and didn't realise it. Give her something to translate and she was perfectly at home, but never ask her to navigate anywhere.

When they neared the cave Lorne parked the Jumper as close as he dared to the opening. They filed out in their usual formation with Lorne in front, Astra and Mahendra in the middle with Wyatt and Jason bringing up the rear.

The team entered the cave after climbing up and over several large boulders. They switched their lights on once it started to get darker inside the cave. Their eyes quickly adjusted to the light in the cave or the lack of lighting. They could also hear bats and other 

creatures lurking near by. Astra moved closer to Mahendra. The Athosian glanced at her. "What?" she said innocently.

"After all this time and what we've been through, you are afraid of a little bat?" Mahendra replied in amusement.

"You're my protector, oh, Highness," Astra replied.

Mahendra sighed and muttered something under his breath that she was pretty sure was in Athosian. The team came to two different tunnels where they could spilt up and go in different directions. "Wood and Van Ingen, go left and keep in radio contact if you can. Mahendra and Astra, you're with me," Lorne ordered after they tried to peer down the tunnels with little success.

Wyatt and Jason went left, while the remaining teammates veered right. Lorne, Astra, and Mahendra walked for about half an hour when they almost ran into Wyatt and Jason. "Shesh, you two! I could have shot you!" Lorne said.

"Sorry, sir," Jason replied. "We found another path back there and there was some sorta reading coming from it."

"I'm getting nothing from this direction," Lorne confessed, pointing farther down the path they'd been on.

"Me either," Astra agreed, double checking her Life Signs Detector. "Let's go through that tunnel Jason was talking about."

"Why not?" Lorne shrugged. So far they hadn't found any sign of what SGA-6 had been talking about, but they had a few days to look around.

They followed Jason back to the tunnel he and Wyatt had found.

"Yeah, there's a massive reading coming from that direction," Astra said, reading her LSD and pointing her finger in the direction of the reading. She kept alternating between the detector and the tunnel, trying to pinpoint exactly where the reading was coming from.

"Let's keep going then," Lorne decided. They walked down the tunnel and came to some kind of arch. Astra's LSD was going crazy, beeping and glowing frantically. Lorne had never seen it react quite like that to anything before.

"This has got to be it," she said. Astra was about to go through the arch when she spotted something odd on the wall on her left. She reached out with her left hand and touched it before the team could 

stop her. The archaeologist felt it hum to her and wondered what she had touched, when she felt a jolt of electricity run through her.

'_I really should know better by now,'_ Astra thought, as she was thrown to the ground, unconscious.


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: So this is where it all starts getting good...the two teams make contact and things start happening... next chapter when everyone really gets together, we'll give you a rundown on who's who and who belongs to and with who just so you have a cheat sheet and can keep it straight. Since we're not always writing things in order (my fault totally--Medie), some of this got a little messed up...so we're trying to piece it back together._

_Meanwhile standard disclaimer on all things obviously Atlantis and well, our teams belong to us, but we're learning to share with each other. :-)_

Aiden blinked her eyes as she sat up, groaning at the pain the motion caused her. Whatever had knocked them out had certainly thrown her for a loop. She rubbed her head as she looked around. There was no sign of anyone on her team, not even Evan who had been standing a few feet from her when the pulse activated. She struggled to her feet and began to explore the cavern she was in, resisting the urge to call out in case everyone else was being held captive. It certainally wasn't the same one they had been in seconds before Evan had touched the orb.

A few moments later, she discovered a doorway and she slunk through it, keeping close to the wall. The corridor she found herself in was short and opened into a cave bigger than the one she had awoken in. It also contained another occupant. Forgetting caution, she hurried towards him, crying, "Evan!" and threw herself into his arms, kissing him.

The surprised man caught the dark haired woman reflexively, but wasn't quick enough to avoid her lips. When she pulled back, he looked at her in puzzlement. "I'm sorry," he told her, "but I don't know you."

She shrugged off his touch and backed away, sliding the nine millimeter from the holster on her hip. "Who the fuck are you?" she demanded. "You're not Evan!"

"Major Evan Lorne. 976583524," he rattled off, reciting his name, rank, and serial number for her.

Aiden shook her head, holding the gun steady on him despite feeling shaky. "No. You aren't Evan. What are you? Replicator? Crystal entity? Clone?"

"Why the hell are you holding a gun on my husband?" a female voice demanded from behind Aiden.

The linguist spun around, levelling her pistol at the new threat. She had been so consumed by the sight of what she thought was Evan safe and sound that she hadn't noticed the other passageways leading into the cavern. Now she focused on the woman who had entered from behind her. The woman was taller than Aiden with short blond hair that reached the top of her shoulders. She had pale green eyes that watched her warily and her head was tilted to the left a little. She was athleticaly built and slim, obviously in good shape. The other woman had fair complexion with a slight tan. She was dressed in standard BDUS, wearing a blue jacket, with a small Australian flag on her right shoulder, and TAC vest. This strange woman carried a P90 clipped to the front of her TAC vest and 9m strapped to her left leg and some alien weapon attached to her right leg. She held a small hand device in her left hand that Aiden couldn't work out what it was. Aiden also noted there was some kind of sword attached to the woman's back.

Aiden swung her gun between the two for a moment, not sure which one was the greater threat. Neither had made a move towards her, but something was definitely going on. Not the least of which was she had been knocked out surrounded by her team and woken up alone. "Who are you?" Aiden demanded.

"Doctor Astra Owen-Lorne. You wanna lower that gun?" Astra responded.

"Where's Evan?" Aiden asked instead of answering her question or complying. "And Deke for that matter? And my boys?"

"I have no idea who Deke or your '_boys_' are, but that's Evan," Astra pointed at her husband.

Aiden shook her head, refusing to budge from her stance or lower her pistol. "That's _not_ Evan. Where _is_ he? What did you _do_ to him?"

Astra glanced at her husband, who gave a slight shrug; he had no idea what was going on either. She had opened her mouth to respond to the other woman when a British voice yelled, "Doc?! Aiden! Where are you?"

Two men emerged from another passageway. The one in the lead; tall, dark-skinned, and lanky, broke into a wide grin when he spied Aiden unharmed. "Found her, boss," he called over his shoulder. When he entered the cave and got a good look at the tableau before him, he stopped in shock and blurted out, "Well, shite. Boss, you're not gonna believe this."

"Get outta the way then so I can see," a very familiar voice ordered. He halted when he reached the group. "Well, that's just freaky," he commented. He shook his head and asked, "Are you okay, Aid?"

She nodded. "Little creeped out, but fine physically. Are you really Evan?" Aiden replied.

The second Lorne, a look of confusion on his face, nodded. "Yeah, I am. Or at least I think I am." He took a breath. "Okay. Someone wanna tell me what's going on?"

"You're creeped out?" Astra said, facing the other woman, who she still didn't know. "How do you think I feel?" The archaeologist said, waving her hands around, still holding the device in her hand.

"As, it'll be fine," Lorne tried to assure her in French, glancing at the strange people and his double in the cave, then back at his wife. "Let's just find out who they are first," he told his wife. _Where's Mahendra when you need him?_ he thought as he looked across the room at his double. The dark-haired woman had edged closer to him and latched onto his arm, as if to reassure herself that he was real.

"Besides you haven't answered my question yet," Astra told the shorter woman. "What's your name? Who are these guys? And what exactly is going on around here?!"

"I'm Dr. Aiden Bancroft. I'm a linguist. What are you exactly a doctor of, Dr. Owen-Lorne?" Aiden asked her. "This is Deke Zulu and Major Evan Lorne." She waved at the two men behind her. "But you're Owen-Lorne? Okay, what the fuck is going on?"

"Aid, calm down," Evan soothed. "Swearing at the situation isn't going to help it."

Aiden glared at him. "That's what _you_ think."

"It never has before," he grumbled.

"I'm a Doctor of Archaeology and Language," Astra explained. "I mainly deal in Egyptian, Ancient, Celtic, and Roman mythology, though I have been known to dabble in other stuff for fun. I speak a variety of languages. I think I'm up to ten or fifteen now. What? I like learning languages," she said with a shrug, when she saw the looks on their faces.

Evan grinned. "You and Aiden probably have a lot in common. And you probably speak some of the same languages. At least you have French in common."

Lorne and Astra exhanged glances as they realized at least one person had understood what they said to each other.

"What happens now?" Aiden asked. "And where is the rest of the team?"

"First we find the rest of both our teams. Then I think the best idea is to go back to Atlantis and figure out how you got here and how to send you home," Lorne said.

Evan nodded. "That sounds like the best idea. How many are you missing? We've got three MIA Marines."

"The kids are gonna be thrilled to have two daddy's," Astra muttered. "I'm also not happy with you kissing my Evan," Astra pointed at Aiden, her eyes flashing. "In future just keep your lips and hands on your own Evan, and refrain yourself from mauling mine. I don't share him with anyone. How the hell are we going to tell them apart?" She considered the two of them for a few minutes. They seemed to be completely identical. "You could wear different coloured arm bands," Astra mused.

"I can tell them apart," Aiden told the archaeologist. "At least I can now that I know there's two of them. I'm sorry about kissing him," she pointed at Lorne. "I didn't realize he wasn't him." She pointed at each of the men as she mentioned the one she meant.

"How?" Astra said doubtfully.

"I have identical twin brothers and can always tell them apart," Aiden assured the other woman. "I'm pretty much the only one who can. Even our mother gets them mixed up. And two of our Marines are almost identical and for the longest time I was the only one who could tell them apart. And those two aren't even related."

Astra nodded. "All right, you two Lornes, go stand next to each other and shuffle around a bit. Then when you're done let's see if Dr. Bancroft can do this. Maybe she can tell me, so I can tell the kids," Astra ordered them.

"No need to be so bossy, As," Lorne snarked.

"I'm not bossy!" Astra replied.

"Are to!"

"Am not!"

"Is she always like this?" Evan asked as he crossed over to Lorne.

Lorne shrugged. "Depends on her mood, but yeah, she can be bossy."

"You have to stop talking," Aiden pointed out. "If you talk, you make it way too easy since you've got different memories."

Lorne grinned. "Looks like yours isn't that much different."

Evan shook his head. "Yeah, she's got her moments."

Aiden rolled her eyes. "Ev," she warned.

The man in question grinned, but mimed zipping his mouth shut and began shuffling around with his double. They did this for about five minutes before nodding that they were done.

Astra and Aiden started at the two Lornes who were now standing next to each other. The two men had jostled each other, switching places, and now Aiden was supposed to prove she could tell them apart. Astra didn't believe the other linguist could do it, but Aiden insisted she could tell her twin brothers apart so why not the two men. "They could lie and say you're right," Deke pointed out as he watched from where he had settled near-by as they were moving.

"Only you would think of that," Aiden retorted as she studied the two Air Force officers carefully.

Astra grinned suddenly as something occurred to her. "Does your Evan have any tattoos?" she asked.

Aiden glanced over at the other woman. "Nope. Why?"

"Mine does. We could always make them strip," Astra suggested.

Aiden grinned wickedly at the identically worried looks on the guys' faces. "While that would be fun and I'm sure you and I would enjoy it," she pointed to the man on the right, "that's my Evan."

"Are you sure?" Astra asked, then turned to the men. "Is she right?"

Both men nodded. "Yes," Lorne answered. "She is."

"Well, damn, that _is_ impressive," Astra said. "Now tell me how you did it."

Astra cautiously reached out with her mind to Lorne, who was on the left. _'As, it's me, so stop worrying, Leannan,'_ Lorne said tentatively back with his mind.

_'Just checking, Leannan,'_ Astra grumbled into his mind.

Aiden looked at Astra and Lorne for a moment as their faces went vacant for an instant, then back to their usual expressions. Filing it away for later reference, she tried to figure out how to explain how she told the two men apart. "I'm not sure I can tell you how I did it. Mom always said it was just a knack. When the twins would try to trick her, she'd get me to tell her which one was which. Its easier now cuz one is married, but," Aiden shrugged, "I can't really explain how I can say to you that that's" she pointed to Evan again, "my Evan Lorne."

"So what are we going to do?" Astra asked. "Because we can't be constantly asking which one is which."

"Double Crichton," Deke suddenly blurted out.

Astra and both Lornes turned to look at him. "What?!" they all exclaimed.

Aiden was nodding frantically. "That's a great idea. Yeah. Different colors or different sleeve lengths. Both would work."

Evan broke in, "When both of you are on the same wavelength it tends to scare me. What are you talking about?!"

Aiden grinned. "For once not something that will get us in trouble, gra. We've been watching _Farscape_ during team movie nights." She held up a hand when he opened his mouth. "Sci-fi. Otherwise not really important. What you need to know is, and, yes, I know, short version."

"Too late," Deke piped up.

Aiden rolled her eyes. "This _is_ the short version, Deke. One of the characters got cloned during the second season. No one on the ship could tell the two guys apart so they put two different color shirts on them." She shrugged as everyone stared at her. "What? It would work."

"That's the scary part," Lorne said. "I actually think it would."

Evan ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, well, we can't do anything about that until we get out of here. So it sounds like we need to find the rest of our teams and..." he paused, considering. "How _did_ you get here? And how do we know that we got transported to your reality and not you to ours?"

Aiden sighed. "One step at a time, Evan." She grinned. "Or didn't they teach you that in major school?"

He refrained from rolling his eyes. "They did," he answered as he keyed his radio open. "McFadden. Wall. Murray. Come in." When he didn't recieve an answer, he turned to the rest of the group. "I would assume someone is with Murray since we haven't heard any explosions. Our demolions expert is a little, um..." he tried to figure out how to explain Murray in a way that wouldn't make him look like a complete idiot.

"Absent-minded," Deke filled in. "But he's very, very good at his job." The tall black man got to his feet. "I'd say they're either still unconcious, boss, or looking for us."

Astra nodded. "Shall we split up then? And try to find everyone? We didn't encounter anyone before we were knocked unconcious."

"Neither did we," Evan answered. "That sounds like the best idea." He glanced at his watch. "Meet back here in say thirty minutes? They couldn't have gone too far." Everyone agreed to the plan and they split up, walking off in two different directions.

* * *

_Author's Afternote: Okay, yeah, I know the Farscape reference was kinda obvious there, but I couldn't help it...I mean come on... I'm impressed (especially after 200) that no one on SGA hasn't tried to rip it off yet... I had to do it, I tell ya, I had to._

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Note: Okay so I was going to give you a run down on who's team is who's and who belongs to who in this chapter, but I think I'll wait until the next one when everyone really starts interacting. For now...enjoy this and we've got the next chapter mostly done, I just need to get off my duff and add my parts._

_Standard disclaimer on everything that's recognizable from Atlantis and yeah, we don't own Farscape either. Also I agree with Lorne...he needs to start vetting their movie nights! Or I need to watch something other than scifi! (giggles) and if you haven't watched "Time Tunnel" on youTube yet...check it out...Kavan rocks!_

* * *

Once Evan and his team left to find their missing Marines, Lorne walked over to Astra. "Hey, are you okay, As?" Lorne asked his wife in a soft gentle voice, opening his arms up to her and pulling her into a tight embrace.

Astra wrapped her own arms around her husband and buried her head in his neck. "I'm fine," Astra assured him. She needed the physical contact to make sure.

"I'm your Evan Lorne," he told her.

"I know. I doubt that other Lorne can mind-speak the way you do, but you never know. This whole two Lornes thing is very strange and it's just plain creepy. Well, I mean I know Sam has theorised that there is infinite number of realities, but that's all I got before it went through one ear and out the other," Astra mused. She rubbed her forehead, trying to get rid of the ache that was taking up residence there.

"Are you sure you're okay? You gave me one hell of a fright when you flew back like that. It looked like you were flying through the air. I thought you'd…When you landed with a horrible thudding sound I… I… I thought you'd…. you know….died! No more touching stuff when we don't know what it is for you, Mrs. Lorne," Lorne said quietly, running his fingers through her hair, tugging it gently. He kissed her lips.

Astra kissed him back with tender passion. "I'm fine. I just have a headache and will need a Panadol. Just stun me next time I go to _'touch'_ something. After all the times I've told you and Woody not to _'touch'_ anything, you'd think I'd take my own advice."

Lorne snorted, his eyes twinkling. "Yes, let's not get into that discussion right now. I'm just glad you're okay. Now let's go find our missing team mates. Mahendra will be having a fit right now because he can't find you," he said, smiling.

"I know. It's not like I haven't caught onto what his Highness does since he's been doing it ever since the day he worked out who I am. Although I have to admit Mahendra is pretty sneaky," Astra admitted.

"Let's go find them," Lorne said, hugging Astra. Lorne led Astra by the hand through the tunnels. They eventually found another room and heard some noises coming from inside. Lorne readied himself only to discover to his relief that they had found Mahendra, who was cursing in Athosian.

"Mahendra, it's alright, we're here," Astra assured her angry Athosian friend and team mate.

"Holy One? Major Lorne?" Mahendra said relieved when he saw them.

"We're both okay," Lorne answered.

"What happened? Where are Captain Wood and Lieutenant Van Ingen?"

"We're trying to find them. Have you seen them?" Astra inquired.

"No. I woke up alone," Mahendra replied. "What happened?" he repeated.

"Astra _'touched'_ something she shouldn't have. A crystal or something and it must've separated us. Anyway, it also brought another team in from somewhere else. We're not sure where yet," Lorne explained.

"Evan has clearly forgotten to mention that the leader of this other team is his double. He's not a Replicator or some other type of copy; he's an actual Major Lorne from another reality. There were two people with him, a black guy; I have no idea what he does, and he also has a women on his team. They went looking for their missing Marines who apparently round out their team, so we came looking for you. The woman on his team is Dr. Bancroft and we apparently have a few things in common. We're both civilian doctors; although she's apparently just a linguist," Astra said patiently. "You have to see them to believe it for yourself."

"You should not have '_touched'_ it, Exalted One," Mahendra said crossly. "I woke up with a sore head!"

"Sorry! I couldn't find any Ancient writing anywhere that told me not to," she retorted.

"Stop fighting, you two," Lorne ordered, rolling his eyes, knowing that they would get into a long involved argument if he let them.

Lorne led the way, trying to see in the dark tunnels. He felt Astra hanging onto his TAC vest and was sure Mahendra was doing the same to her. Lorne heard a noise to his right and came face to face with Jason and Wyatt. "Shit! That's twice today I've nearly shot, you two," Lorne exclaimed.

"Sorry, Sir," Jason apologised. "What the hell happened? One minute we were all together and the next minute me and Wyatt here wake up in some cave in the dark by ourselves." Wyatt was standing next to him, alert for anything.

Astra repeated what she had said to Mahendra. Wyatt and Jason just stared at her in shock and disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me! You always tell me not to _'touch'_ stuff," Jason said in disbelief to Astra. "You should know better then to touch anything Ancient! You didn't tell them about you, did you?"

"Shut up, Flyboy. I already got that lecture from the Boss and his Royal Highness here," she replied, pointing to her Lorne and then Mahendra. "No, we didn't tell them about me. We aren't that stupid."

"Astra, Wood, knock it off. I really will separate the pair of you. We have to go back and meet this other Lorne's team. Let's go," Lorne ordered. He looked at Astra. "No '_touching'_ anything, As," he warned in a tone that said no arguing.

The team walked through the tunnels back to where they would be meet the other team. When they arrived there was no one there so they settled in to wait. Mahendra and Astra got into an argument in Athosian over something, while Wyatt and Jason played 'would you rather.' Lorne ran his hand through his hair and hoped the other team would arrive soon, so they all could leave and head back home to Atlantis.

* * *

Aiden looked at Evan as they exited by another tunnel. "So what exactly did you touch to land us in this predicament? And did you try to contact the _Apollo_ yet?"

Evan sighed. "Why do you think it was something I did?"

Aiden glanced over her shoulder at him. Deke had taken the lead, with Aiden right behind him, and Evan bringing up the rear. Not the most ideal arrangement for them, but it would work until they found the Marines. "Because I could see both Mac and Deke when it happened and I couldn't see you. So what was it? And _Apollo_?"

"Both Deke and I tried to contact the _Apollo_ and got no answer so either we're too far underground or we're no longer in our reality," Lorne answered. "As for what I touched. It was a crystal..." he waved his hand unable to come up with a better description, "thing."

"Oh, yeah that's helpful, _Major_," she told him. "Could you be a little less descriptive?"

"What did I do that I'm now Major?" he asked. "And I've got a question for you; why did that other woman tell you to keep your hands off Lorne?" He shook his head. "And that feels just weird referring to myself in the third person." Aiden turned red enough that Evan could make it out even in the low light of the caves. "Aiden, what did you do?" he asked.

She refused to look at him. "I didn't do anything. Much. Exactly."

"Aiden Bancroft, I know that tone. What happened?"

Deke grinned. "Apparently she doesn't want to tell you what happened."

"Well, she better because I don't want this to be an issue. If we are in their reality, we will most likely need their help getting home. So what happened?" Lorne asked.

Aiden sighed. "All right fine. I was a little overly enthusiastic to see who I thought was you and I kissed him."

Evan shook his head. He was used to Aiden's convoluted explanations, but even that one went over his head. "Explain that again, in English, with small words so I understand."

"When I entered the cave and saw the other Lorne, I thought he was you. I ran over to him and kissed him. Doctor Owen-Lorne, his wife, I would assume, entered as he was pushing me away."

"Okay, I can see her point. Next time please make sure it's me before kissing someone that looks like me." Evan groaned. "And I have been spending way too much time with you because that was almost as confusing as one of your comments."

She turned around and kissed his briefly. "But I understood it."

"Great. Now can we please find our Marines? Hopefully before they decide that letting Murray blow something up would be a good idea."

Deke held up his LSD which he had pulled out of his vest pocket and waved it at the two of them. "I've got blips, Boss."

"How many?"

"Three. Odds are good its our jarheads," Deke responded.

Evan motioned with his P-90. "Lead the way, but be careful. Just because none of us came across anyone before this doesn't mean there's no one here."

Deke raised his own P-90 and propped the LSD on it so he could see it and also point his gun. Leading the way down the tunnel, he used the LSD to guide his way. A few turns later, they entered a larger room and found the three Marines gathered together. MacFadden tried to struggle to his feet when he saw the others, but Murray pushed him back down. "Sir, Doc, are you all right?" Wall asked.

"We're fine, Wall. What's your status?" Evan asked.

"Murray and I are both fine, but MacFadden's got a hell of a headache," Wall responded. "Deke, can you take a look at him?"

Deke clipped his P-90 to his vest and knelt down next to the Marine, pulling a penlight from one of his numerous pockets. Flicking it in front of MacFadden's eyes, he tested the reaction of the pupils and then unhooked his pack and dug through it. Pulling out a packet, he handed it to the Marine. "Take these." Turning on his heels, he looked up at Evan. "How's your head, Boss?"

Evan shrugged. "It hurts, but I'd rather not take anything at this moment." He motioned for the other two Marines to help their gunnery sergeant to his feet. "You okay to walk?" he asked.

MacFadden nodded. "Yes, sir. Where are we? What happened?"

Aiden grinned. "Evan got a little curious and touched something he shouldn't have. We seem to have entered an alternate reality and met another team. We're still figuring out whether we're in their reality or another one completely. They went to find the rest of their team while we came to find the three of you."

"So what's the plan, sir?" Wall asked as they gathered up their packs and policed the area.

"We're going back to their Atlantis if that's the reality we're in and then we'll figure out a way to get home," Evan answered. "Now just so there isn't an issue when we meet up with them; the leader of the other team is also Major Lorne and he's apparently married to one of his team members. She and Aiden have already had one run-in so let's try to keep things low-key."

"Yes, sir," the three Marines replied.

Lorne motioned for Deke to lead the way back to the rendezvous point and fell into step beside Aiden with the three Marines taking the rear spot. "You okay?" he asked her.

She nodded. "Yeah. I'm dealing. Feeling better now that we have the boys back with us." She glanced behind her to be sure the three Marines were there. "Just knowing that they're fine makes me feel a whole lot safer."

"Yeah, I know the feeling. I'm glad to see they're in one piece," he told her. He reached out and squeezed her hand. "We'll get through this and find our way home."

They entered the cavern where they had agreed to meet the other team to find them waiting. The team scrambled to their feet when the second team entered and Lorne and Astra walked forward to meet them. "I see you found your team mates," Lorne said.

Evan nodded. "Yes. Mac's got a bit of a headache, but they're fine other than that." He turned when he heard Aiden gasp beside him. "What, amour?" he asked.

Aiden was staring at one of the men on the other team. Now she shook her head and turned her attention to Evan. "Nothing. It's nothing, grá. Are we ready?"

Astra took Aiden by the arm as the men began to figure out which way they needed to go to get out. "Something spooked you about Wood," she said. "What was it?"

Aiden glanced at the other woman. "Wood? That's his name?"

Astra nodded. "Jason Wood. He's been with our team since the beginning. He's been on Atlantis since the original Expedition. Why? Who did you think he was?"

Aiden wrapped her arms around her body and smiled reassuringly at Evan, who had glanced over at them. "He looks a lot like a friend of mine, but Colby was on Earth the last time I heard from him. He was also in the Army when I knew him. It was just a bit of a shock to see your friend. Wood?" she questioned and continued when Astra nodded. "Could be his twin."

"So it's not going to be an issue?" Astra asked.

"As long as Evan doesn't press me about it," Aiden responded.

"Why?"

"There are some things about my relationship with Colby that Evan doesn't know. He knows that I occasionally get letters from an old Army buddy, but not the whole story of how we met or how we know each other," Aiden replied.

"Well, then we'll just have to hope your man isn't curious or that this situation is enough to keep him occupied," Astra said.

Aiden smiled tightly. "We'll have to hope." She turned her attention to the others as they finished their planning. "Did you figure it out?"

"We're pretty sure we're still in our reality," Lorne answered. "Which means our jumper should be at the entrance to the caves. So we're going to head out and if it's there, take it to the 'gate and dial Atlantis."

Aiden nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I hope someone has an idea of what to tell your Atlantis when we get there."

* * *

Lorne nodded to Wood, who slung his P-90 up onto his shoulder and stepped up to the DHD; dialing Atlantis. They had found the Jumper outside of the cave system, but it hadn't powered up when they stepped inside so the two teams had hiked the distance back to the 'gate. Aiden edged closer to Evan, keeping one hand hooked in his belt loops, and their team within sight. The two teams had come to an uneasy truce, but Aiden was still nervous. As the connection was made, Lorne activated his radio, "Atlantis, this is Lorne. We'd like to come home and bring some friends."

A familiar voice transmitted back, "Friend friends, let's take their weapons immediately friends, or Genii?"

Lorne exchanged glances with Astra. "Um, I think you'll have to see this to believe it, sir," he replied cautiously.

"All right, bring 'em through," Sheppard replied, "but tell them to move carefully."

"Oh, I think they already know," Lorne replied with a look at Evan who was talking quietly with Aiden. "I'm sending Van Ingen and Mahendra through first. Then the friends."

"Go ahead," came the answer.

Lorne signaled for his teammates to proceed, then turned to Evan. "You okay to go through?" he questioned.

Evan nodded. "We'll be fine. Someone will clap a hand over Aiden's mouth if need be."

Glad to be going home, the two men stepped quickly through the wormhole as soon as they were given the go ahead. Evan motioned for Deke and MacFadden to follow them, then unhooked Aiden's hand from his belt and grasped it in his. He tugged gently and they stepped through with Murray and Wall on their heels. Sheppard was waiting when their eyes adjusted to Atlantis's lighting. "Lorne, what's going on? Who's the girl? Don't you think your wife...?" he trailed off as first Murray and Wall, then Lorne and Astra appeared. "Okay, that's different," he said as Wood joined them and the wormhole closed. He looked between the two majors for a few moments. "Did you find a cloning facility? Although that wouldn't explain the other people."

Evan had silently handed over his weapons to the 'gateroom Marines as soon as they stepped through and motioned for his team to do the same. When Aiden had crossed her arms and stubbornly refused, he had glared in response and taken her nine mil and k-bar. He was sure she had at least one other knife on her (she spent too much time with Ronon not to have hidden at least one), but it wasn't worth the hassle to frisk her right now. She was staring at Sheppard and Atlantis with wide-eyes, almost ignoring Evan and the team, as she drank in the city. Evan was trying to keep an eye on her and also the team so he just noticed as Murray began to do one of his wanders. "Wall," he called; indicating the youngest of his Marines.

Wall grabbed his friend by the back of the TAC vest and dragged him over by their other teammates. "Got him, sir."

Aiden turned her wide-eyes up to Evan. "They found Atlantis."

"It would appear so," he replied softly.

"What do you mean 'found Atlantis'?" a new voice asked.

Evan looked up to see Sam Carter descending from the control room. His eyes automatically flicked to her collar and he saluted. "Colonel, congratulations," he greeted her.

She returned his salute, and then said, "Major, why don't we save the explanations for after your med exams. I'm sure you have a similar procedure?"

"Yes, ma'am. Do you want our packs in addition to our weapons?" Evan replied.

"If you wouldn't mind. We'll get them back to you soon," Sam replied.

Evan unhooked his pack, then motioned for everyone to follow suit. "Murray's has C-4 and blasting gel in it," he cautioned as a couple of Marines came forward to take possession of them.

* * *

They were split up as soon as they got to the infirmary, which didn't surprise Evan at all. Sheppard had followed his Lorne into the cubicle and Evan could hear their murmured voices. He smiled easily at the doctor who entered to do his check. "What'dya need?" he asked.

"Just a regular check-up including a blood sample," the doctor replied.

"No problem." Evan held out his arm and considered the situation as he was poked and prodded.

The doctor was closing the last of his samples when a piercing scream cut through the infirmary. "Aiden!" Evan yelled. Pushing himself off the bed, he bolted in the direction of the screams which were continuing and getting more frantic.

When he burst into the area where Aiden was, the linguist was huddled as far up the bed as she could get. Her screams had subsided into sobs and Evan could make out the words, "No needles," repeated over and over again.

Evan ignored the other people in the room and boosted himself onto the bed, gathering her into his arms. "Sh, Aid, it's okay, I'm here," he assured her.

"I want _Carson_," she wailed.

"I know, amour, but Carson's not here. I need you to take some nice slow deep breaths." When he could feel her relaxing in his arms, he turned to the doctor in the room. "What _happened_?" he demanded.

"I-I just tr-tried to draw some blood," the doctor stammered out. "She hit me and started screaming."

Evan took a deep breath, knowing that if he got upset it would only set Aiden off again. "Okay. Let me put this in simple terms. Needles plus Aiden equals bad times. You're lucky all she did was hit you." He snapped his fingers at the man. "Gimme the needle and vial. I'll get you your sample."

"You aren't trained," the doctor protested.

"I'm not, no, but..." Evan raised his voice, "_Deke_!"

The black man popped his head into the room. "Yeah, Boss?"

"They need a blood sample from Aiden," Evan explained.

"Is that what all the screaming was about?" Deke asked as he came into the room. He took the supplies out of the doctor's lax fingers. "Hey, Little Doc," he greeted Aiden. He worked one of her arms out of Evan's embrace. "Bury your head," he instructed her since she had looked up at his entrance. "Pinch coming." He ignored the swearing from her hidden face and, working quickly, drew the necessary samples. When he was finished, he drew back from them and turned to the medical doctor who was still standing by. "Here's your sample." He turned to Evan. "I'm going back to our Marines, Boss."

Evan nodded. "Thanks, Deke." He looked down at Aiden, who still had her head buried. "Are you done screaming?"

"Is that doctor done trying to stab me?" her muffled voice responded.

The doctor nodded. "I'm done with the tests. Why is she having so many issues?"

Evan shifted, moving Aiden to a better position and leaning back on the bed. If they were going to stay here until the test results came back, he was going to be comfortable. "Aiden hates needles to begin with. A couple of months ago, we were held hostage and the people kept sticking her. It pretty much takes an act of God to get her to submit to a needle now. Or someone she knows wheedling it."

The doctor consulted the chart. "She said she doesn't have the ATA gene. Did the therapy not take?"

Evan shook his head. "She never got it. She refused the shot before we lost Doctor Beckett and just won't let anyone near her now. Deke tried to give it to her, but she told him no. I've got three people on my team, including me with the gene. One less doesn't matter." He looked up as the three Marines and Deke entered the room. "I gather you're going to keep us all in one place?"

Sheppard had followed them in. "It'll be easier to keep an eye on you until the results come back. Astra said your doctor can tell the two of you Lornes apart?"

Evan nudged Aiden, trying to get her to sit up. "Aiden, you need to talk to the Colonel."

Aiden drew her face out of his neck and brushed her hair away from her eyes. She focused on Sheppard and then shook her head. "Sorry, it's just really weird."

"What is?" he asked, drawing up a near-by chair and straddling it; resting his arms across the back.

"You look so much like our Sheppard. There are differences though." She reached out, pointing to a scar just barely visible at the edge of his hairline. "He doesn't have a scar there."

Sheppard traced it self-consciously. "Yeah. I fell out of a tree when I was ten and busted my head open. Mom always said I was lucky I made it to adulthood. But telling the Lornes apart? Can you help us there?"

Aiden shook her head. "There's differences. Most notably the tattoos that Doctor Lorne says your Lorne has, but it's not something I can teach anyone. It's a..." she tried to think of another word, but obviously couldn't, "knack. I can do it with my twin brothers. I can do it with these two, but I can't explain how I do it." She motioned to Deke. "We've already thought of an idea of how to tell them apart." With those words, she went on to explain their idea, using the example from _Farscape_.

Sheppard nodded when she was finished. "Yeah, that's what Lorne said." He stood up. "Okay, well, provided your tests come back clean, you'll be released into the population with guards. We'll see what we can do about getting you home."

Evan nodded. "Thank you, sir."


	5. Chapter 5

Hey y'all. I know we haven't updated this story in a little while. In about to be exact... but both Gommeroi and I have been super busy in real life. I started a new job which is giving me crazy mad work (as my students would say) and is a big adjustment and she's in training. In addition things are still a little crazy otherwise due to some other situations. So because of that...we're taking a hiatus from this story.

I want to participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November and need to do prep in October plus I'm working on a challenge for savecolby over at my livejournal that needs to be finished.

Gommeroi wants to work on some of her other fanfic.

So we're going to hopefully come back to this sometime in December or January. I promise we are not going to leave the teams stranded or at odds with each other. We do actually have one more chapter almost written and depending on how things going in the next few weeks, I may be able to get it up... we'll just have to see...

Meanwhile we are aiming to have Handbook finished by mid-October.

Medie and Gommeroi


	6. Chapter 6

All right I have been getting a lot of alerts for things on here, which I am assuming means people are not taking a look at my profile. Completely understandable, but I feel kinda bad that y'all are alerting things and never going to get an update for them…sorry, but I'm not posting on here anymore. Mostly because my multiple personalities are taking over my brain and making it difficult for me to keep track of things.

The main reason this account is still active is I have friends who post on here and I like to be able to comment to them when they post something new or help them out with things. Sooo with that in mind, I'm copying what I posted in my profile and posting it in each of the unfinished stories:

Okay so my multiple identities are now taking over my brains and I am not sure who I am or where I'm going. Joke! But I am trying to get all my writing condensed down into two accounts. With that in mind...I will not longer be posting here. Nothing new is going to go up here or will be finished here. If something is incomplete, it will either not be finished or it will be moved over to my livejournal account. I'm not going to take anything down, but I am not going to be adding to anything either.

If you would like to find me on the web from now on:

my **fanfiction** will be on live journal under the name shanachie_quill at http: /shanachie-quill .livejournal .com/

my **original fiction** continues to be on under the name medievalgirl at **http:/ www. writing. com / authors/ medievalgirl**

Copy and paste the websites to use them and remove the spaces (sorry refuses to let people post URLs that are not internal).

With that in mind, I also want to let people who have been asking know what of my incomplete work will or will not be finished or what I hope to finish. So of the following stories...here is what I am hoping/planning.

**Life Lessons**-I intend to finish this (although I'm not sure when)

**School Days**-I do not intend to finish this

**Not What He Wanted**—At this point in time I'm not planning to finish it, that doesn't mean I won't, but I'm not going to work on it at this moment—I screwed up the back story and I need to fix it

**Past Revealed**—At this point in time I'm not planning to finish it, that doesn't mean I won't, but I'm not going to work on it at this moment—I screwed up the back story and I need to fix it

**SGA2 Saves the World**-I'd like to finish this, but I've kinda lost my SGA muse...so if I can find him again...I shall

**The Handbook to InterAgency Co-Operation**—I'm considering emailing my co-author and seeing if I can just plow through the last couple of chapters and finishing it…I'll get back to y'all on this

**Through the Looking Glass**-This is not going to be finished at this time

**Playing with Fire**—At this point in time I'm not planning to finish it, that doesn't mean I won't, but I'm not going to work on it at this moment—I screwed up the back story and I need to fix it

Okay so not as many as I feared, but more than I thought...if that made any sort of sense. Hope to see y'all over at one of my other identities. I won't be closing this account because I do have friends that write on here and I'd like to be able to leave them reviews and such...but like I said I won't be posting here anymore.

I think that's everything, if you have any specific questions feel free to PM me.


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